A well known company, Valve, that distributes nonfree computer games with Digital Restrictions Management, recently announced it would distribute these games for GNU/Linux. What good and bad effects can this have?

I suppose that availability of popular nonfree programs on GNU/Linux can boost adoption of the system. However, our goal goes beyond making this system a “success”; its purpose is to bring freedom to the users. Thus, the question is how this development affects users' freedom.

Nonfree game programs (like other nonfree programs) are unethical because they deny freedom to their users. (Game art is a different issue, because it isn't software.) If you want freedom, one requisite for it is not having nonfree programs on your computer. That much is clear.

Thus, in direct practical terms, this development can do both harm and good. It might encourage GNU/Linux users to install these games, and it might encourage users of the games to replace Windows with GNU/Linux. My guess is that the direct good effect will be bigger than the direct harm. But there is also an indirect effect: what does the use of these games teach people in our community?

Any GNU/Linux distro that comes with software to offer these games will teach users that the point is not freedom. Nonfree software in GNU/Linux distros already works against the goal of freedom. Adding these games to a distro would augment that effect.

If you want to promote freedom, please take care not to talk about the availability of these games on GNU/Linux as support for our cause. Instead you could tell people about the Liberated Pixel Cup free game contest, the Free Game Dev Forum, and the LibrePlanet Gaming Collective's free gaming night.

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Silicon Avatar wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 12:45:Eh, he does have a point, sort of.

Look at it this way:

Valve is scared of the MS app store that's going to be built into Win 8. They're scared that eventually Steam will be made inconvenient or get locked out somehow. Win 8 is closed source and Valve can't change the OS so they move to Linux. On top of Linux they launch a ton of closed source games, perpetuating the problem they ran from (inability to change source code) on an OS that was built to avoid that very thing.

Stallman might sound crazy and look weird but he has a point.

Valve should give something significant back if they're going to build on top of open source software.

I can only think that with the new hires and such they fully intend to "give something back".

This may be in the form of using their influence with hardware manufacturers to support linux in a (more) stable fashion, or perhaps they will even release their own distro.. who knows..

I dont think Valve is arrogant enough to just jump on the boat with their 500 ton gorilla, without making some re-enforcements to the hull first, and helping to grow the platform.

Our other alternatives are Apple, Google and Microsoft, obviously.. but I am not overly excited about *anything* coming (o/s wise) from these three.. and I'm happy Valve is pushing for a more viable 4th party in that race.

^Drag0n^ wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 18:13:Freedom isn't free (TM)

You bet yer balls it isn't. That's the #1 most miscomprehended thing in this discussion IMO.